Friday, March 01, 2013

I've had enough snow

If this last snow had been like the one the week before, I might not be saying that. But this was such a soggy, wet mess. There's a hard crust on top of it, and in places where it has thawed, it has turned to a sheet of ice. It's downright dangerous. Our sidewalks are clear, so it's safe to go to the garage. Cliff scraped the driveway clear down to the gravel in places to give him traction to drive from the road to the house, so we aren't housebound. But believe me, I will never take for granted how easy it is normally to throw on a coat, put on my boots, and walk anywhere around the property I want, because I haven't been able to do that for days. We miss our daily walk. I had planned to walk up and down our dead-end road for half an hour a day, but now that it's been bladed free of snow, it is covered by a sheet of ice. And yet, this too shall pass, and the gardens, yards, and pastures will have received the moisture they needed. When it comes in the form of snow, every drop goes straight down to where it's needed as it slowly melts. I had a doctor's appointment for Tuesday, but nobody went anywhere that day, with fourteen inches of snow falling. The prescription for my blood pressure pills (amlodipine) had run out. I was able to see the nurse-practitioner yesterday. She made some remark about how they don't see me unless something happens to force me to visit (So?). My blood pressure hasn't really been staying as low as they would like it to, so now I get to take a water pill in addition to the other one. Woo-hoo, as if I didn't already pee often enough! Then we had to discuss the innocuous heart murmur that they discovered and insisted last year that I have a cardio-something-or-other to check it out: Do I have chest pain? Do I tire easily? Am I short of breath? No, no, and no. "I live with a heart patient," I told her, "so I know what to watch for in that area." I forgot to fast yesterday morning, so I still have to go back and get the blood work done, which will show no problems at all, because it never does. I guess it's good they check for all that stuff, though. My mom developed diabetes around my age, and it is hereditary. I'm just glad the doctor stuff is almost over for a year.

I'm in a bit of a quandary about Gracie here (remember when I bought her last September?). She is almost all Jersey; Jersey heifers can come in heat as early as five months of age. She will be six months old in a couple of weeks. See Red-the-bull in the background? When she comes in heat, he will be Johnny-on-the-spot (he has no shame), which would mean Gracie would have a calf at the age of fifteen months. That isn't a good scenario, but I'm not sure how to prevent it. We don't have the pens around here to separate these two for months. If it were summer, we might take her to Cliff's brother's place, but I'm sure she would get crowded back from the hay in winter, as small as she is, and would likely starve. Perhaps we can catch the bull following her around the day before she actually comes in heat as he is prone to do, and I could put her in the stall for a couple of days, every three weeks. It's a risk, but so far my only choice. Do you suppose they make chastity belts for calves?

5 comments:

We haven't had 14 inches of snow here since Christmas week, but we have had enough to make it icy and slippery out. I rarely go for walks in the winter because it is too dangerous to try. Every now and then it all melts off and I get out and about. Take good care there.

Chastity belts for calves--ha ha! That icky kind of snow is mostly what we get here, with not many snow plows, snow shovels and lots and lots of HILLS. So, I'm not a huge fan of the white stuff. I had to have an echocardiogram for my heart murmur which turned out to be benign. Is that what they're talking about?